Our grandchildren ....

We always hoped of having grandchildren 

and with 3 children we figured we had a pretty good shot at it

Had no idea we would have so many!!

and words can't even describe how much we are loving it

Here's Maddox

10 years old

the happiest little guy I have ever met

Always wanting to help, loves his brothers

no matter what his struggles are, he just keeps going

has overcome so much in his life

Gabe

8 years old

A very nice and well mannered young man

loves baseball, VCU basketball

talks a lot and loves to share stories with you

very thoughtful

loves his brothers

(and just lost his first tooth)

Declan Liam

2 years old

talks like he is about 4 years old

funny, a little prankster and very sweet

smart guy and amazes us with the things 

he already knows

loves his baby sister 

John Thomas

21 months old

biggest eyes, longest eyelashes I have ever seen

Such a happy little guy

except that he is cutting teeth so not happy about that

adores his 2 older brothers

Avery Grace

5 months old

she is the princess of the group

our first girl

She is constant motion

so sweet and a little bit prissy

and loves her brother Declan 

and now we have another little girl to add to the group

she will be here around the end of November

very excited for our family

and we still have Jake.....who has not married or had 

children yet so could get a few more :)

Magic Eraser ....

I saw somewhere on the internet a list

of all of the uses of Magic Erasers

one of them was cleaning silver

I normally use Tarn-X, which stinks so bad

smells like rotten eggs to me

So I thought I would give it a try on the base

of this cake plate

It was my Momma's and I just love it

It's so elegant, so beautiful

and the magic eraser worked great....took some

elbow grease but it worked!

as you can see below, this piece

was in pretty bad shape

I didn't even know my Momma had this and we discovered

it when cleaning out some of her things.

So you can just imagine how long it's been since it was cleaned

It was wrapped in plastic so that might have saved it from

getting "pitted" tarnished

you can see good here that the right side is already looking good

later.....

Halloween ...

Last weekend we carved our pumpkins

Declan wasn't very interested in cleaning out the pumpkins

the day before at his house he had painted a bunch

of pumpkins so I think he enjoyed that more

maybe next year....

So Bucky did their pumpkin

and I did the one for our front porch

And of course Avery Grace just watched us as she

was eating her bananas. I think it was either the second

or third time trying them.

look at that little cutie!

and now that I have put these pictures up I notice I

probably should have cropped out the back side of Pippa Lou...haha

Mine is the happy one, Bucky's is the scary one

we also roasted the pumpkin seeds

the ones in the green jar are roasted with olive oil and sea salt

the smaller jar is with cinnamon and brown sugar

We have a bakery on site at work

it's awesome and dangerous

I brought home some goodies for the grandkids

later.....

New pup ....

Our son Jake and his girlfriend Kayce got

a new puppy

they adopted her from the Richmond Animal League

And they are not really sure what she is a mix of

but one thing is for sure....she sure is cute!!

They already have a corgi named Newman

and they really wanted a buddy for him

the first week was a get to know you kind of week

but now, they are just best friends!

Newman below with his squinty eyed attitude....not sure

of her at first but now loves her!

later....

More beach ....

A few more pictures from the beach

I call this picture "Full Daddy Mode"

look at Bucky handling it all.....such a wonderful dad!

Our outside balcony at our condo 

Declan loved racing back and forth and showing

us how fast he is. Look at that face ... so serious!

Declan's shells he found throughout the week

all cleaned up

l

ater.....

Beach ...

It's been over a month since we were at the beach

so guess I better put some beach pictures up!

Sadly, I did not take a lot of pictures but here's a few

here's Avery Grace ready to head down to the beach

with her very stylish bathing suite!

Declan made a friend on the beach

My beautiful, sweet daughter Jacquelyn

Bucky with his 2 babies.....he is such a great Dad!

Avery Grace dressed all fancy for dinner out

more tomorrow

later.....

Grave Digger ....

Our daughter Jacquelyn and son-in-law Bucky invited

us to go on vacation with them and the kids and 

Bucky's mom Lynne!

Our favorite time to go is in September

kids are back in school so the restaurants are easy to get in

no long waits

the weather is great and the ocean warm

So we headed down on Labor Day weekend

But first, we had to stop to see Grave Digger

It's all that Declan has been talking about

He was so excited to be standing next to Grave Digger

he loves his monster trucks!!

Avery Grace had no interest in the trucks!

later....

Pumpkin Patch .....

Last weekend I went with Jacquelyn, Bucky, Declan

Avery Grace, Lynne and Tom to the pumpkin patch

up in Ashland, VA

we thought it opened at 10:00 so we made our plans to get there right

before that time to avoid long lines. Turns out we had the wrong

time....and goodness, the line was unbelievably long.

the good news is, it moved fast!

well look a there.....such an old lady taking a mirror selfie

I don't care.....I work hard to stay in good shape and any way, needed

to show off my skeleton shirt!

Jacquelyn and crew came to our house before heading out and she

fed Avery Grace.

Declan does not get to watch TV, only one show, Paw Patrol, per day

and that is while Jacquelyn is preparing dinner. And seriously, I think

that is why he has the language skills of a 4 year old....

So to keep him happy before leaving, they let him watch an

episode of his favorite show.....check out that precious smile!

check out Avery Grace's kitty cat hat

selfie with Declan

Bucky, Jacquelyn and Avery Grace

you pay $20 for all of the pumpkins you can hold and take 3 steps

Bucky always comes through and handles our pumpkins!

taking his 3 steps

we had perfect weather and had a lot of fun

later.....